The acorn weevil, Curculio, is one of the weevils that infest hardwood nuts. These weevils attack both red and white oaks and are found wherever the hosts grow. We would expect this weevil to be fairly common at the Fontenelle Nature Centers. This one was photographed on the boardwalk at Fontenelle Forest.

The mouthparts of snout beetles are modified into down-curved snouts, or beaks, adapted for boring into plants; the jaws are at the end of the snout. They are usually small, hard-bodied insects. There are two types, or genera: the long-snouted acorn weevils (genus Curculio) and the short-snouted ones (genus Conotrachelus). The long snouted acorn weevil’s snout may be equal to or greater than the length of its body. Adults of both genera feed on acorns, but only the long snouted weevils can drill into the shells to feed and lay eggs inside the nutmeat. The tip of the snout is actually a miniature saw, and the weevil places the tip against the shell, circling endlessly around the pivot point until the shell is pierced.